Sold out show to secret admirers

Stephanie White, Contributor
Published On: 10/26/2009

This past Thursday Volker Hall was host to New York Times’ best-selling author Frank Warren.

Warren spoke to UAB students and attendees, promoting his latest collection of secret portrayals, “PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God.”

Warren started collecting secrets five years ago and currently receives about 200 postcards per day.

The postcards are sometimes nothing more than an addressed Polaroid picture, but other times they are an illustration as detailed as the Mona Lisa herself.

Warren has published five books showcasing peoples’ innermost thoughts and confessions and in doing so, has released their hidden desire for the entire world to see.

“I think sharing a secret can be a transformative,” said Warren. “I think the decision you make about what to conceal and what to reveal, says who you are.”

Warren’s latest book not only takes you to the places people have been, but also delves deep into their inner consciousness, exposing them raw. Some cards leave little to the imagination.

Warren takes his job as message carrier quite seriously.

“People actually take the time and trust to tell me a secret they have never shared with anyone else,” said Warren.
“I like the postcards that show evidence of their journey…I like to think of each one of [the] postcards as a person, finding and sharing their story.”

Out of the 200 postcards Warren receives a day, he said one of his favorites was from a somewhat disgruntled Starbucks employee.

The employee made him a postcard from a coffee cup that had the inscription, “When customers make me angry, I give them decaf instead of caffeine coffee.”

While this would be considered one of the more lighthearted secrets he receives, some are at the complete opposite end of the spectrum.

One card he showed the audience was a picture of a bedroom door that had written in marker, “The holes in the door are from where my mom kept trying to get in so she could continue to beat me.”

Some of his postcards will make you laugh, and some will make you cry.

The theme continued with the secrets the audience members shared at the end of the evening, ranging from stories of stolen jellybeans to the suicide of loved ones.

Warren is more than a publisher for some; he is a motivator and lifesaver. He encouraged UAB students and attendees to share secrets and not to feel bad or judged in doing so.

One student said Warren was like Mahatma Gandhi, referencing his secrets sharing as “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” In sharing a secret, you become liberated from your secret and can change the world in doing so.

In his lecture last Thursday night, audience members were excitingly engaged throughout the evening, listening to every word and bit of advice Warren offered. Some attendees even drove four hours to see him and take part in the joy of secret sharing.

At the end of his lecture, he shared that he always liked to leave a message behind, a secret if you will. He told the UAB audience, “The world needs to hear your voice.”

For more information on Warren, upcoming events, the PostSecret community, and how to send him your secret, visit http://www.postsecretcommunity.com. 

Email: sgwhite@uab.edu